THANKS for stopping by, I do my best to acknowledge when someone leaves a comment,you do not have to be a member here & everyone is welcome.
Ps: This site is monitored but not actively posting on a regular basis. Mostly these are stories & some photos saved from a defunct site known as Verdun Connections which was on MSN Groups initially then on a social network called Multiply.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Re-post Natatorium Footage and the comments (available in the video section too)

Natatorium footage from 1963,........Have a look at the pool,it should spark some memories,for most of you & who knows there's a good chance some of us may have been there on this day,..........Just neat to see the old pool, in action.

Did you notice just how close the fence of the Nat & the Boardwalk are to the River.......
Checkout Google Earth for that same location now & you will see the earth is at least 100 feet further out to the river nowadays................ "the times they are a changing"---Bob Dylan HF&RV

Boy do I ever remember those days. 25 cents to get in. Had the best bag of chips at the concession stand on the roof. 5cents.That was my second home. I remember the swimming and diving meets there that the parks put on. I swam for Brown Blvd. park. I used to swim in my age group and then move up to swim against the adults. I still have a couple of swimming medals. All the rest.....lost in the moves.

Boy do I ever remember those days. 25 cents to get in. Had the best bag of chips at the concession stand on the roof. 5cents.That was my second home. I remember the swimming and diving meets there that the parks put on. I swam for Brown Blvd. park. I used to swim in my age group and then move up to swim against the adults. I still have a couple of swimming medals. All the rest.....lost in the moves.

Hi Peter,.and don't forget the best 'Toasted Hot Dogs ' around No Steamies up there, it was always the way to wind up the day with a treat on the roof,.and Remember dropping a few chips to some hungry friends who were still in the pool area..........HF&RV

I noticed the river being very close too. Yea the old boardwalk ran up quite close to the back fence. Lots of landfill along the old Verdun waterfront compared to once upon a time. I do wonder what it would have been like back in the day with the extended waterfront we have now. I mean there were thousands of kids in Verdun in those days and the numbers almost certainly will never go that high again, unless there is another baby boom. There is now 3 times as much park for one third the kids.

Your right on,.it's a cool pool,.once the largest outdoor pool in La Belle Province,
Did you bring any old photogrpahs of Verdun/ Montrea etc etc with you to California ,if so & if you feel like sharing them,we'd love to see them.......the era you lived there would be neat to see,we've compiled several Boardwalk pictures over the years,as the boardwalk, the Natatorium & of course the Auditorium were a big part of all Our lives........... HF&RV ps: We Appreciate your input....

I am amazed actually at how much traffic certain threads generate ,I certainly would never guess these amounts ,if it were not for the built in traffic counter. It seems we have an incredible amounf of traffic,to view the threads posted,but not always a lot of individual responses. Either way we do see the amount of people at least reading our input& we appreciate that. Oddly enough we have a lot of readers who just surf by or just read our post's & look at our pictures,Which (that's how ya spell it ,isn't it ?) We are happy to have all traffic,whether you read or post ,your welcome: If you feel like sharing some photos or stories,and if you need help to figure out "How To" anything ,..then just ask,we will be happy to try & help

oh for the good ole days when you could read and enjoy a site without being stalked by your isp number - I personally stay away from places because of this - but that is the internet today - out of control - btw Les I loved the video of surfing in the ice - what a whacko that guy is! at least he had sense enough to wear a helmet - and yes, you spelled it correctly - it's which - unless you are talking about "witch" - the kind that ride on brooms - those are my personal favorites - favorites - spelled the American way - the nation of retards as one of the members referred to us.

Tomorrow is 9/11 - may all those people rest in peace - lest we forget!

Thanks Sandy I hope you continue to read & enjoy most sites,we didn't request the traffic count,but it comes automatically with each persons post (that is each persons thread ,so if you start a thread ,you will know who has at least looked at it,...... As for VerdunConncetions we absolutely Do Not collect ISP 's nor do we aspire to look into or collect any data,) We appreciate your input & readership,regardless of where it comes from. I just thought I'd mention how much this Naatatorium Video has generated,......pretty cool I think....... I agree with you though there are some sites that make people feel unwelcome,I assure you that is & was not my intent.
.........I wonder also where there could possibly be a Nation of Retards,certainly if we are referring too our nations politics ,then perhaps I could cautiously assume that every Nation has their share ie: Cheney /Rove who probably ran the world into the ground, under the guise of the GW admin, but your correct in taking exception to being collectively thrown into the same basket,which I don't believe was the intent of the reply you were referring to.Thanks for your Input .always appreciated: HF&RV
ps: we don't care if you read or post ,but we do appreciate your passing by (posting is better though......hahahaha ) where's those bolts when you need them.......................

I look at the video of the old swimming pool.Brings back a lot of memories.I still go to the pool to-day and the cost to ge at in is 2.00$.The only place you and go and spend the day.You can even bring your own chair to sit on.If any one knows Jimmy Gill to let you know Jimmy pasted away. I grew up in verdun and my dad was a policeman.I now live in the west island but am planning to sell my house this spring and move back to verdun.There is now a lot of great places to eat also.. Bill J

Hey Les and Bill J.!!!
Just like you folks and the other postees, my brother and I and neighboring kids used to go from Gertrude St. and then 1st Ave. out to the Nat. almost every morn that was nice and sunny in the summers from June until late August during the 1940-1950 era. It was 10 cents to get in back then and wll worth it! We spent the morning there, carried our lunches in sacks, thenh spent the afternoon out by the Power House in Ville Lasalle. Plenty of hiking/bikeing but well worth the effort. Ahh, those were the days! I knew a Jimmy Gill on 1st Ave. and his brother Billy. (They'd be in their 70's now.) So many friends are slipping away. Les, thanks for the videos and pics.
Victah

Hi Vic , the Nat was a big part of all the kids in Verdun & plenty of them from the Point too..
Walk , Bike Hike , like you say, Money Well Spent for sure, we generally had an annual pass,but if you went early in the morning prior to 10am (I think it was) they let you in free.....One of the albums I posted the other day had a bunch of Nat pics in them too, Also a big deal was the small bag of chips for a nickel & a soft drink/pop & they had the best Toasted Hotdogs, remember those with the special flat buns................Cheers !! HF&RV

Ah yes sitting up on the roof with a bag of Maple leaf chips or an ice cream cone.
Just checking out the girls. Never a wasted summer.
Or doing fancy dives off the high board to impress the girls, then a nice easy five minute walk home.
What wonderful summers I spent there.

Ah yes sitting up on the roof with a bag of Maple leaf chips or an ice cream cone.Just checking out the girls. Never a wasted summer.Or doing fancy dives off the high board to impress the girls, then a nice easy five minute walk home.What wonderful summers I spent there.

And just a few yards from the pool was "the pit" a small depressed area in the grass with bushes.
We use to hang out there . Or under one of the red tops on the benches.
Verdun and the Point hold many good memories for me.

18 comments:

We used to walk from 4th ave verdun to the pool in the morning, we got in free so we would eat our breakfast while we were walking to get there early then we were so tired as we walk all the way back home but OH its was worth it,In those days the last few streets were not there we walked through the fields, yup those were the days !cheers Suzanne

We pretty much lived in that pool day and night. Would sell bottles to go back for another dip on a really hot summer night. Remember getting .02 cents for the little bottles and .05 cents for the big ones.The Nat was our summer home. We pretty much lived there. The days that you had enough money to go to the roof and buy a hot dog or a bag of chips and a drink Wow . A gourmet meal and the smell so heavenly.

I’m sure there was a ticket booth separate from the building where we would buy our tickets first and then go through the turning door.Put your clothes in a wire basket and get a big pin with your number .That ticket booth never appears in any of the pictures I’ve seen on the net. Do you remember it?

Yes I remember also I vaquely remember when it was removed. There are no diving boards there now because some kid from Lasalle, I believe, slid on the cement steps and cracked is skull. The lifeguard chair used to be near the small board but we had such good cannonballs and canopeners that they moved it to the end of the pool now I think they removed the chairs also. Of course nobody is allowed upstairs anymore.They removed the bleachers but I must say it's better for lying in the sun they added grassy areas, the restaurant is at the end they have chairs and tables. Maybe someone could tell us what changed inside.

There certainly was a ticket booth ,a little round or maybe octagonal (like the bus ticket booth at Woodland Transfer Park) for the bus driver) but that's another story. You are correct I too do not recall seeing a photograph of that booth in front of the Nat. & I have made a point of finding whatever Nat pics I could find for us...maybe someone still has one tucked away somewhere,that will turn up one day.

I remember diving off the high board and when your head hit the water you knew it !! Pretty sure a few of my screws were loose for the day. I preferred diving because jumping I got a gallon of water up my nose and I didn't like that either but I always went back for more. Oh to be a kid again although sometimes I think I still am and I pay for it the next day:)

a photo showing the lineup of kids waiting to get in to the pool. I was hoping to post a shot like this ,showing that little kiosk/ticket vendor shack,but as you can see ,it had not been built yet ,as of this photo.......?Still a cool shot though.

I am reposting this here for escuminac ( Shirley) for this Natatorium post.

escuminac wrote today at 2:29 PMI love the picture of the opening of the Natatorium. I don't think I was in that line but I certainly spent lots of summer days lined up there. I also went to Brownies and taught cubs at the old stone house Shirley C

If you look closely at today's front cover shot,you can make out the little ticket vendors shack in front of the Natatorium,if you didn't have an annual pass you could buy a day pass/ticket. or maybe you can make it out in this shot if it's large enough:

OMG there it is. I can see it . I don't know why I remembered that ticket booth.Maybe because I was so short and I had a hard time giving my money to pay and making sure I got my change to buy a .05 cent bag of chips after swimming . Just grab your ticket and run through those turning doors.

pony19505 wrote on May 17We pretty much lived in that pool day and night. Would sell bottles to go back for another dip on a really hot summer night. Remember getting .02 cents for the little bottles and .05 cents for the big ones.The Nat was our summer home. We pretty much lived there. The days that you had enough money to go to the roof and buy a hot dog or a bag of chips and a drink Wow . A gourmet meal and the smell so heavenly.

I’m sure there was a ticket booth separate from the building where we would buy our tickets first and then go through the turning door.Put your clothes in a wire basket and get a big pin with your number .That ticket booth never appears in any of the pictures I’ve seen on the net. Do you remember it?

lesf wrote on May 17pony19505 saidI’m sure there was a ticket booth separate from the building There certainly was a ticket booth ,a little round or maybe octagonal (like the bus ticket booth at Woodland Transfer Park) for the bus driver) but that's another story.You are correct I too do not recall seeing a photograph of that booth in front of the Nat. & I have made a point of finding whatever Nat pics I could find for us...maybe someone still has one tucked away somewhere,that will turn up one day.

..........I knew it was someone recently...glad we picked it out, HF&RV - Les